Gripping device having a pivoted actuating handle



L. L. BUSBY June 5,, 1956 GRIPPING DEVICE HAVING A PIVOTED ACTUATINGHANDLE Filed July 20, 1953 2 BY D 2,748,636 GRIPPING DEVICE HAVING APIVOTED ACTUATING HANDLE Lewis L. Bushy, Bremerton, Wash. ApplicationJuly 20, 1953, Serial No. 368,948 1 Claim. (Cl. 81-3) This inventionrelates to the broad class of tools and more particularly to a grippingdevice.

An object of the invention lies in the provision of a gripping devicehaving clamping jaws movable toward and away from each other in a commonplane and actuated by swinging a pivoted lever handle; the jaws beingadapted to be applied to articles having dimensions covering a widerange without adjustment of the device, and being especially designedfor removing seals from the bungs of barrels, though it is notrestricted to such use; said gripping device having a novel lever andlinkage assembly constructed and arranged so that a swinging movement ofthe handle adjusts the clamping jaws to the object to be clamped andcontinuation of the handle movement accomplishes the work.

This and other objects of the invention will become apparent during thecourse of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, andin which like numerals are employed to designate like parts,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved tool having parts brokenaway for convenience of illustration;

Figure 2 is a view in elevation looking toward the open jaws of thetool;

Figure 3 is a vertical cross section taken at line 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of a tool having a modifiedgripping face.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, 1 have disclosed myinvention as having a pair of opposed upper and lower elongated jaws 10and 11. Upper jaw 10 is provided with the bifurcated rear end, asindicated by the numeral 12 and a transversely enlarged head 13 havingan arcuate gripping face of substantially 180 degrees of a cylinder 14provided with serrations constituting transversely extending teeth 15covering the full face. The mean of the arcuately disposed teeth issubstantially parallel with the longitudinal axis of the jaw 10.

The lower jaw 11 is provided with a disc-shaped rear end portion 16 andthis is disposed within the bifurcation 12 and a pivot pin 17 extendingtransversely through the rear ends of the upper and lower jaws 10 and 11pivotally unites the jaws on their longitudinal axes intersection. Atits outer free end the lower jaw 11 is provided with a transverselyenlarged head 18 and this head is provided with a planar gripping face19 having transversely extending serrations or teeth 20. The plane ofthe gripping face 19 intersects the longitudinal axis of the lower jaw11 at an exterior angle of about 45". It is thus apparent that the upperand lower jaws 10 and 11 are pivotally united at their rear ends formovement in a common plane toward and away from each other.

Intermediate its length the lower jaw 11 is pivotally secured in thebifurcated forward end 21 of the lever handle 22. This pivotal mountingis accomplished by extending a pin 23 through the ears of thebifurcation 21 at their free ends and through the body of the jaw 11 onan axis spaced from its gripping face 19.

With the structure thus far described, the upper jaw 10 is free andpivotal movement with relation to the lower jaw 11 is permitted.However, to adapt the upper jaw 10 for relative movement with the lowerjaw 11, I have provided a pair of links 24, 24 disposed at each side ofthe upper jaw 10 and pivotally united therewith, substannite fitatesPatent ice 2 tially midway its length, by means of a pivot pin 25extending through the upper jaw 10 and having its ends secured in theupper ends of links 24. The opposed lower ends of links 24 are pivotallyunited to the bifurcated forward end of the handle or lever 22 by meansof pivot pin 26.

Inspection of Figures 3 and 4 will reveal that the inner, upper ends oflinks 24 are provided with bosses 27 which space the links 24 from theside faces of the upper jaw 10 and maintain the links in parallelrelation to each other. This will prevent binding of the links duringuse of the tool.

The lever 22 is provided at its outer end with an enlarged plug 28 whichis externally threaded at 29 to cooperate with the internal threads 30of a handle extension 31.

The handle extension 31 is. preferably tubular for providing a lightweight tool and the outer end is knurled at 32 to make a suitable handgrip.

Referring to Figure 4, it will be seen that the modified form of theinvention omits the arcuate gripping face 14 from the upper jaw 10 andin its place provide a planar face 33 which is disposed at an exteriorangle of approximately 45 from the longitudinal axis of the jaw 10. Inthis particular construction it will be noted that the outermost tooth34 is enlarged or lengthened over the other teeth or serrations 35 topermit the jaw to grip articles of small size.

While the preferred use of the tool is for removing seals from the bungsof barrels, it is not my intention to limit the use of my inventionunnecessarily and therefore, I desire to secure a patent for thedisclosed invention as broadly as possible, limited only by the appendedclaim and in view of the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A device of the character described comprising a pair of coplanar andopposed elongated jaws pivotally secured to each other at their rearends for movement of their outer ends toward and away from each otherabout a pivot axis and in paths containing a common plane, longitudinalaxes of said jaws intersecting at said pivot axis; gripping faces on theouter ends of said jaws; the gripping face of one jaw having laterallyextending teeth arranged in a convex substantially are having its chordextending parallel to the longitudinal axis of said one jaw; thegripping face of the other jaw being disposed on a plane perpendicularto said common plane and intersecting the longitudinal axis of saidother jaw at a substantially 45 exterior angle; a handle pivotallyconnected at one end to said other jaw for swinging movement in a pathcontaining said common plane and about an axis located closer to saidplanar gripping face than to said pivot axis; and a link pivotallyconnected at one end to the handle on an axis perpendicular to saidcommon plane and located between said one end of the handle and a freeend of the handle, said link being pivotally connected at its other endto said one jaw on an axis perpendicular to said common plane andlocated intermediate the length of said one jaw.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS444,255 Shaw Jan. 6, 1891 892,497 Barr July 7, 1908 1,029,074 LittleJune 11, 1912 1,099,427 Christopherson June 9, 1.914 1,174,907 Stickleset al Mar. 7, 1916 1,965,487 Carlson July 3, 1934 2,282,148 Mandi H May5, 1942 2,520,652 Pfauser et al Aug. 29, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,593Germany Nov. 20, 1880

